California Voices

Liz Helms, California Chronic Care Coalition: California congressional delegation needs to act in unison to protect patients against surprise medical bills.

Dan Jaffe, Association of National Advertisers: California’s new Consumer Privacy Act could lead to an invasion of your privacy. The Legislature can still fix this issue and others before the die is cast and fundamental changes are made. We urge that lawmakers not to let this opportunity slip away.

Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Mark Stone: A law intended to create more transparency misleads voters and makes it harder to pass bond and parcel tax measures. Senate Bill 268 would fix it.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is playing dealmaker in the declining days of his first legislative session, but the long-term effects of his deals are uncertain.

Sen. Connie Leyva and Nancy E. O'Malley, Alameda County District Attorney: Promptly testing DNA evidence in sexual assault kits will prevent backlogs of forensic evidence in laboratories or evidence rooms and can identify an unknown assailant, link crimes together, identify serial perpetrators, and exonerate the wrongly convicted.

Ryan Haight, National Infertility Association: I am obligated to keep fighting for better infertility options for people trying to conceive. This includes advancing healthcare policies Assembly Bill 767 which will benefit thousands of people.

Charter school advocates, having been on the losing side of last year's elections, knew they would be targeted by their foes in the education establishment. But a new compromise bill spares them from death.

Eve Bukowski, stage 4 cancer patient: If the goal is to make medicine more affordable and accessible, the last thing patients need is a new legal roadblock that will stifle access to lower-cost alternatives. Assembly Bill 824 would restrict access to medication.

While California's labor unions have achieved near total power in politics, they continue to see a decline in union membership.

Gerald Haslam, author and California State University graduate: Count me among those advocating free California State University tuition for California residents. It would be a brave investment in California’s future, but California State Universities and the community colleges have long been a bootstraps institutions.